Author: Dan Hiergesell

Chris Weidman had some explaining to do when the former UFC middleweight champion ended one of the shortest retirements ever to get selected during the Global Fight League 2025 Draft on Friday night (official results HERE).

Last weekend, Weidman was part of the broadcast team that helped countdown UFC 311 from Los Angeles, California. During the UFC 311 weigh ins show, Weidman was given a few minutes to address the camera and proceeded to announce his retirement from UFC. Most fight fans took it as if Weidman was stepping away from all combat sports, but he specifically kept saying “UFC.” See it below:

Weidman ended up posting the below message to X following his “retirement speech” and it confused fight fans even more. Check it out below:

“The tribute that The @UFC created for my retirement on the weigh-ins show completely blew me away,” wrote Weidman last weekend. “I’m extremely grateful for what they put together to honor me and my career.”

On Friday, the GFL 2025 Draft unfolded and it was eventually revealed that Weidman was selected by Team New York to be an active fighter on the roster. The draft selection came as a shocking surprise to fight fans who were under the impression that Weidman retired just six days ago, making it one of the shortest “retirements” ever.

The confusion was substantial, which prompted Weidman to explain the situation and clear up any questions fight fans might be asking. Here’s what he had to say during the GFL 2025 Draft broadcast:

“The elephant in the room is I just retired from UFC. A lot of people thought I was done fighting,” explained Weidman. “I didn’t know. I thought maybe I’m done fighting. I was kind of open to other opportunities outside of the UFC, but it had to be good. This is a league with a lot of guys I have a history with. You got Luke Rockhold, you got Gegard Mousasi, you got Uriah Hall.

“Rockhold was my first loss ever. That was a tough pill for me to swallow. We were supposed to rematch a bunch of times in UFC, but it never happened. So that would be a fight I’d love to have.

“It’s older dudes that I have a lot of history with. I love to compete and we make a whole lot of money. It’s not something I really feel like I can say no to. It’s really an exciting time for me.”

Weidman, 40, is coming off a disappointing TKO loss to Eryk Anders at UFC 310 last December. The former UFC middleweight champion is only 3-7 in his last 10 fights since losing his UFC title back in 2015 and is doing anything he can to keep his career going. Making a jump to GFL and serving as Team New York’s leader makes sense for now.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight prospect, Robelis Despaigne, turned in another sensational outing under the Karate Combat banner as the Cuban striker stopped Marcos Brigagao with a 12-second knockout on Friday night (Jan. 24, 2025) at Karate Combat 52 from Miami, Florida.

Despaigne was one of the most hyped mixed martial arts (MMA) prospects of 2024 leading into his UFC debut against veteran Josh Parisian at UFC 299. The towering Cuban fighter delivered a ridiculous 18-second knockout finish over Parisian, but then flopped in his next two Octagon outings before his eventual release form the promotion last October.

That led Despaigne to the sport of karate as he made his Karate Combat debut just last month at Karate Combat 51. Despaigne was able to make a quick turnaround to fight again this weekend because his debut lasted just four seconds (watch the finish HERE). That’s why fight fans were overly eager to see Despaigne compete again to see if he can dominate once more.

To little surprise, the towering heavyweight did just that at Karate Combat 52 when he clobbered Brigagao with a collection of heavy blows to begin the first round. Brigagao tried to recover multiple times, but after a few knockdowns in just 12 seconds the referee decided to step in and save the Brazilian fighter from any further punishment.

Check out the knockout finish in the above video player and let us know how far Despaigne can climb the Karate Combat ladder.

Aline Pereira, sister of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, made good on her second Karate Combat appearance on Friday night (Jan. 24, 2025) at Karate Combat 52 in Miami, Fla., putting a brutal stop to Gisela Luna with a second-round knockout (left hook).

Being the sister of Alex Pereira comes with big responsibility in the combat arena, especially if your specialty is also striking. Pereira, who is three years younger than her brother, made a memorable Karate Combat debut in Oct. 2024 with a devastating left hook knockout in the first round (see HERE). It was an incredible finish, especially considering she was just 1-2 in her professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career before transitioning to karate.

Luckily for Pereira, it seems she has a knack for the sport of karate. Once again, the Brazilian striker found a home for the family left hook Saturday night and delivered a crushing blow to Luna in Round 2. Luna fell to the canvas and Pereira piled on some nasty ground-and-pound before the referee stepped in.

Check out the finish in the above video player and a Pereira family celebration below:

Pereira, who is now 2-0 as a member of the Karate Combat roster, has a potentially huge year ahead of her. Her brother, Alex, is one of the most prolific champions competing under the UFC banner today and a familiar name that will only lead to more attention for herself. It will be up to Aline to keep delivering the goods and create her own success.

Nate Diaz is as real as it gets, which is why the former UFC superstar is confused why Logan and Jake Paul didn’t back up their trash talk during a recent run-in with Conor McGregor.

Earlier this week, McGregor and the two Paul brothers made their way to Washington D.C. to support President of the Unites States, Donald Trump, for his official inauguration. Funny enough, all three of them ended up on a bus together that was heading to the ceremony. Even the mother of Logan and Jake, Pam Stepnick, was on the bus.

What made this situation even more interesting is that both Paul brothers have called out McGregor in the past. Jake has been more vocal about his dislike for “Notorious,” but Logan was recently linked to a potential boxing match with the UFC cash cow. McGregor did his best to talk trash to both social media influencers while on the bus by calling them “side jobs,” but that still didn’t spark retaliation from the two bothers.

Diaz, who is known to throw down at the drop of a hat (or a throw of a bottle), doesn’t understand why Logan and Jake didn’t speak up while face-to-face with McGregor. “Notorious” remained playful throughout the entire ordeal, but it was a chance for the Paul brothers to back up all the trash talk they’ve been spewing. As expected, they didn’t say much of anything.

Check out Diaz’s take on the entire situation below and let us know if you agree!

“WTH goin on here. U Guys all been talkin hella shit u should’ve beat his ass

He would’ve f—ked u both up easy but you should’ve at least gave it a try after talkin all that shit, you lady’s all

Be about it don’t talk about it.”

The first-ever fighter draft for Global Fight League (GFL) unfolded earlier tonight (Fri., Jan. 24, 2025) from inside Van Wagner Studios in Phoenix, Arizona, and fight fans can now check out the official 2025 rosters for all six teams.

It has taken GFL a bit longer than expected to put everything in place for a 2025 rollout, but Friday’s draft was the first major hurdle to overcome. The league will feature a total of six teams, which have selected 20 fighters each from a large pool of 420 athletes hailing from 67 countries. This includes former UFC champions, former Bellator champions, and some real legends of mixed martial arts (MMA).

Yes, some of the aforementioned legends probably shouldn’t be fighting.

Some picks were leaked to begin the draft broadcast, but the shows still went on as planned. After the conclusion of Round 5, GFL decided to release the official rosters for all six teams (although New York was late to come in). Check them out below and let us know which team you think has the best lineup for 2025!

Team Dubai

Manager: Cain Velasquez
Coach: Javier Mendez

Ali Isaev — heavyweight
Todd Duffee — heavyweight
Ronny Markes — light heavyweight
Omari Akhmedov — light heavyweight
Luke Rockhold — middleweight
Derek Brunson — middleweight
Tyron Woodley — welterweight
Abubakar Nurmagomedov — welterweight
Tofiq Musayev — lightweight
Damir Ismagulov — lightweight
Khumoyun Tukhtamurodov — featherweight
Adilet Numatov — featherweight
Timur Valiev — bantamweight
Farbod Iran Nezhad — bantamweight
Arlene Blencowe — women’s bantamweight
Alexa Conners — women’s bantamweight
Randi Field — strawweight
Faine Mesquita — strawweight
Jessica Aguilar — atomweight
Anastasia Nikolakakos — atomweight

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Team London

Manager: Luke Barnatt
Coach: Carl Prince

Tanner Boser — heavyweight
Stuart Austin — heavyweight
Ilir Latifi — light heavyweight
Alexander Gustafsson — light heavyweight
Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz — middleweight
Gegard Mousasi — middleweight
Norman Parke — welterweight
Danny Roberts — welterweight
Tim Wilde — lightweight
Benson Henderson — lightweight
Mike Grundy — featherweight
Brett Johns — featherweight
Josh Hill — bantamweight
Cameron Else — bantamweight
Pannie Kianzad — women’s bantamweight
Julia Budd — women’s bantamweight
Karolina Owczarz — strawweight
Josefine Knutsson — strawweight
Kelly Staddon — atomweight
Chiara Penco — atomweight

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Team Los Angeles

Manager: Wanderlei Silva
Coach: Rafael Cordeiro

Andrei Arlovski — heavyweight
Frank Mir — heavyweight
Rashad Evans — light heavyweight
Da Woon Jung — light heavyweight
Uriah Hall — middleweight
Grant Neal — middleweight
Louis Glismann — welterweight
Lorenz Larkin — welterweight
Tony Ferguson — lightweight
Sage Northcutt — lightweight
Tyler Diamond — featherweight
Chad Mendes — featherweight
Urijah Faber — bantamweight
Ray Borg — bantamweight
Leslie Smith — women’s bantamweight
Aspen Ladd — women’s bantamweight
Cynthia Calvillo — strawweight
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane — strawweight
Jessica Penne — atomweight
Cory McKenna — atomweight

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Team Miami

Manager: Thiago Alves
Coach: Conan Silveira

Junior dos Santos — heavyweight
Robelis Despaigne — heavyweight
Thiago Santos — light heavyweight
Philipe Lins — light heavyweight
Yoel Romero — middleweight
Hector Lombard — middleweight
Gleison Tibau — welterweight
Dilano Taylor — welterweight
Jeremy Stephens — lightweight
Anthony Pettis — lightweight
Charles Rosa — featherweight
Andre Harrison — featherweight
Marlon Moraes — bantamweight
Eric Shelton — bantamweight
Mariya Agapova — women’s bantamweight
Cat Zingano — women’s bantamweight
Paige VanZant — strawweight
Hannah Goldy — strawweight
Natasha Kuziutina — atomweight
Kayla Kracho — atomweight

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Team New York

Manager: TBD
Coach: Ray Longo

Kevin Lee – lightweight
Chris Weidman – middleweight
Holly Holm – women’s bantamweight
Melissa Amaya – women’s strawweight
Kai Kamaka III – featherweight
Bi Nguyen – women’s atomweight
Marisa Messer-Belenchia – women’s atomweight
Miao Ding – women’s strawweight
Liana Jojua – women’s bantamweight
Jimmie Rivera – bantamweight
Zviad Lazishvili – bantamweight
Lance Palmer – featherweight
Sidney Outlaw – lightweight
Neiman Gracie – welterweight
Dillon Danis – welterweight
Phillip Hawes – middleweight
Devin Clark – light heavyweight
Ovince Saint Preux – light heavyweight
Alan Belcher – heavyweight
Aleksei Oleinik – heavyweight

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Team Sao Paulo

Manager: Lyoto Machida
Coach: Andre Pederneiras

Joice Mara – atomweight
Camila Reynoso – strawweight
Viviane Araujo – strawweight
Alejandra Lara – bantamweight
Paula Bittencourt – bantamweight
Raphael Assuncao – bantamweight
Renan Barao – bantamweight
Julio Arce – featherweight
Maike Linhares – featherweight
Patricky Freire – lightweight
Lucas Martins – lightweight
Alex Oliveira – welterweight
Carlos Petruzzella – welterweight
Alan Patrick – middleweight
Douglas Lima – middleweight
Antonio Carlos Junior – light heavyweight
Mauricio Rua – light heavyweight
Bruno Cappelozza – heavyweight
Fabricio Werdum – heavyweight
Pamela Mara – women’s atomweight

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Stick with Mania for more GFL 2025 roster and fight card news.

The inaugural Global Fight League (GFL) draft is finally here!

On Friday (Jan. 24, 2025), GFL will host its first-ever draft that will see six teams pick a combined total of 120 fighters from a large pool of 420 athletes from 67 different countries. It has taken the new fight league a few years to put things in motion, but the time has finally come. The draft will take place on Friday night with the hopes of an official launch event this April.

While there is a plethora of different types of fighters who will be eligible to be drafted by one of the six teams participating in GFL, fight fans are especially excited due to some of the star names that have already signed on. This includes former UFC superstars like Tony Ferguson, Junior dos Santos, Yoel Romero, Alexander Gustafsson, Luke Rockhold, Wanderlei Silva, Tyron Woodley, Anthony Pettis, Mauricio Rua, Rashad Evans, Paige VanZant, and so many more.

The official GFL draft will take place from inside Van Wagner Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. It is expected to begin around 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT and can be see in the above video player. The six teams and the official manager/coach for each can be seen below:

• Dubai is managed by Cain Velasquez and coached by Javier Mendez
• London is managed by Luke Barnatt and coached by Carl Prince
• Los Angeles is managed by Wanderlei Silva and coached by Rafael Cordeiro
• Miami is managed by Thiago Alves and coached by Conan Silveira
• New York is coached by Ray Longo with a manager TBA (probably Chris Weidman)
• Sao Paulo is managed by Lyoto Machida and coached by Andre Pederneiras

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Stick with Mania for ongoing coverage of the GFL draft and official team results.